Tremor
by didsomeonesayventus
Summary: It's amazing what your true fears can be, and even more so at how real they can feel. Series of nightmare drabbles warning some graphic content
1. Begin

"As you all know, the final battle with Xehanort is just on the horizon." Yen Sid proclaimed. He waved his hand over the potential seven in front of him: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Ventus, Aqua, and Lea (or Axel, both were acceptable), "All of you have been chosen as candidates to combat this threat."

"Tell me what I don't know." Sora muttered. His muttering became a mockingly higher pitch, "Oh sorry, you're gonna need to save everyone again, no pressure-" he abruptly stopped when Kairi and Riku elbowed him quiet.

Yen Sid smiled- he couldn't help it they were being so childish -but quickly resumed his somber composure, "And so I have decided that you must be prepared for the worst." Everyone looked unfazed by this until Yen Sid added, "By your definition."

People who had already been through the arguable worst murmured in protest. The room was basically filled with dissatisfaction from everyone except Sora- who despite having it as rough as most didn't complain much -and Kairi- who figured it was a good way to get herself a little more prepared to experience a bad thing for once. That didn't stop Sora and Kairi from glancing at each other, though.

They all quieted when Yen Sid waved his hand again. King Mickey spoke up from his side, "We both agreed that if you can't deal with what you fear most, then you have no reason to be fighting in a battle where you..." He hesitated, "Where you may have to face such a fear." He added a soft apology, recognizing that a quite a few of the people before him were technically not even 20 yet.

Yen Sid gestured for them to sit down, "I will put you into a deep slumber-"

"Uh, no thanks." Sora and Riku said together, starkly and painfully recalling the last time such words had been uttered.

Yen Sid stroked his beard, "I understand your hesitation, but fear not. I have purposefully set it up that your sleep will remain undisturbed." He then turned his attention to all of them, "You will sleep and face the situation you fear most. When you wake we will discuss upon what you have experienced."

Sora looked at he others lying down, then looked at Riku, "He says that like this is gonna really hurt..."

Riku settled in with a shrug and a callous reply, "Prob'ly will..." Sora laid down, settling himself into the cold floor. He looked at Riku again, then Kairi, then at the ceiling.

One by one, Yen Sid knelt next to each of them and waved his hand over their eyes. One by one, they fell into the depths of their unconscious like piano keys plinking the last notes of their song. One by one, their calm expressions faltered. One by one they began writhing and crying as their worst nightmare came too close to real.

* * *

ta dahh since I can't leave things like this alone when I come up with them. Expect each person to get a short chapter kinda deal yada yadda IDK what to say I just wanna upload so goodbye don't expect ANs


	2. Roxas

Roxas didn't know what he was going to see. He didn't want to close his eyes but the moment Yen Sid cast his spell he went out easier than flipping a light switch. He was still in an anticipatory moment where he wondered over each little horror he could face.

Then again, his short life wasn't exactly praise-worthy. What fear was left that he already hadn't faced? What more could he lose? He felt himself quake at the thought of losing Axel and Xion again. Or maybe he'd be forced back into anonymity. Just a nondescript facet of Sora who never truly belonged anywhere.

It was then he quietly realized just what fear was presenting itself to him:

Nothing.

The unknown.

Roxas seized up in terror. He realized just what nothing meant, he realized what the things he didn't know for sure meant. He realized just what exactly sent his mind into sheer panic. He screamed. He yelled. He ran through the nothing to try and find someone, anyone, even someTHING. Something to tell him he was still alive, still himself, to give himself bearings that he was still Roxas, still alive.

And with that Roxas was the first to wake.

Yen Sid stood from his desk, "Either you are bold without compare, afraid of nothing, or something has gone terribly wrong..."

Roxas sat up and began crying. His breaths became faster and faster, and he tried to slow it down, but he couldn't it was closing in on him and crushing him and destroying him-

"Calm down... Calm, Roxas, it was just a dream." Yen Sid ran his old, weathered, and immensely comforting hand down Roxas's back.

Roxas grabbed at him. "N-nothing!" He choked out through his tears, "That's exactly it!"

Yen Sid quietly removed Roxas's shaking and vice-like hands, "Nothing?"

Roxas nodded, "Nothing! Nothing, the unknown, the things I don't know and can't predict!"

Yen Sid patted his back again, "Well, there is no counsel I can provide for such a fear."

"Counsel?" Roxas asked as Yen Sid went back to his desk.

The old man sat down with a heavy sigh, "The purpose is to find weak links within your hearts unknown even to yourselves, then to provide counseling to strengthen such a link."

He drummed his fingers softly with a worried pace, "And with your fear being one of unknowns, the best I can say is for you to be as prepared as possible."


	3. Aqua

Aqua felt herself being strangled. And not just any point in the future. No, this had a distinct ring of the past. She struggled with no purpose as Terra- eyes of cold gold, hair white like a herald of death -walked purposefully towards her. He grinned as he approached her, delighting in her fear and frantic attempt to escape.

"What a sad little caged bird." He laughed as he ran his hand over her chin. Aqua made an effort to kick him, but he sidestepped her attempts with amusement, "It even thinks it can reach past the bars."

"Indeed, such a cute little thing." Aqua craned her neck, and sobbed at the sight of Ventus lost to Xehanort as well. It was horrible seeing such a precious smile used in such a demeaning way, "Doesn't even realize how pitiful she is."

"Ven! Oh Ventus what did they do to you?!" Aqua cried. She turned back to Terra, "Fight you two! Just fight it please!"

Terra moved in closer, "Hmm, if fighting is what you want..." He kissed her. Now, Aqua wouldn't mind a kiss from Terra, but this way? Never. She screamed into his mouth and flailed and kicked and resisted. She wasn't sure how much she hurt him, but at least resistance felt catharthic.

Bit by bit it escalated, bit by bit Aqua felt nightmares she didn't dare to consider becoming alive. With every scream and plead for her friend to stop came the response of laughter. Even Ventus- ever the sign of purity and high morals -seemed to be there just to watch her crash and burn with the occasional help. Aqua begged for them to stop multiple times, she kicked them and beat them and tried so hard to escape.

This was too real, too possible. There needed to be an escape button. There had to be a failsafe, an escape button. Somewhere, anywhere. With her stomach churning she went along with Terra and Ventus, hoping that would be her escape, but instead it felt like it continued forever.

She tried to focus on the hot tears running down her cheeks. She tried making her mind go everywhere but her fear. But eventually she settled right on the stark, naked truth, "I don't want this..."

Aqua bolted awake with a scream of bloody murder.

Roxas jumped, not knowing how exactly to react to such a scream. Aqua saw him out of the corner of her vision and- still screaming -punched him. When he yelled and grabbed at his now bloody nose, she seemed to snap back to reality. After that she curled up, sobbing.

"How could you... How could you..." She whispered endlessly.

She felt Mickey hold her hand and rub it, "It was just a dream."

Aqua uncurled herself and stood, then walked right up to Yen Sid and slammed her hands on his desk, "What is wrong with you?!"

Yen Sid seemed to expect the reaction, "I suppose that your nightmare was beyond unpleasant."

Aqua seemed to falter, "I-I got..." She couldn't say it. Not in front of everyone like this. "T-the dream..." She began crying again. It was so horrible. It was so real. "... My friends!"

"Do you wish to talk about it in privacy?" Yen Sid asked, gesturing to his closet. Aqua nodded, and- for possibly the first time -fled to the room. Yen Sid followed after with a slightly languid pace, as if regretful.

The door closed, and Roxas turned to Mickey, "What did you make her dream of?"

Mickey shook his head, "Not what we made her think. What she made herself think." He answered Roxas before he even asked, "The dreams are all tailored to what makes you afraid. It might not be a fear you know, or even considered, but they resonate completely and absolutely with your deepest fears and no one else's. The fears presented are from your own mind."

Roxas sat back down unsteadily, wiping at his nose. Mickey made a gesture as if he wanted to fix it but Roxas waved him off. "No, no I'm fine you don't need to waste your magic." he said. He glanced at the others. It was horrible seeing them asleep yet so obviously tortured, but there was nothing for them to do until they woke up.


	4. Kairi

Kairi's voice rang everywhere. Mirrors reflected her agonized and wailing features dripping with blood and did little to stop her disorientation. She had already seen Sora and Riku dead, dismembered, the works that made her want to vomit. In fact if she could remember it right she DID vomit.

She banged against the mirrors, trying to find a way out and failing. She screamed for help, "PLEASE! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE! ANYONE!" She tried turning around to another maze of mirrors, but found she was now in a box. A box or mirrors steadily filling with blood.

"PLEASE! PLEASE I DON'T HAVE ANYONE TO HELP ME!" She screamed again. And again. And again. She fell to her knees, sobbing. She was alone, in a tiny room, about to drown in blood and watch every twitch and tweak of her expressions as it happened.

She didn't expect this. Maybe just darkness, or Sora and Riku teasing her beyond reason. She didn't expect this. She didn't think it would become this horrible. Yen Sid didn't make it sound like it was going to be this horrible.

Kairi stood, trying to hold onto air as long as possible. "Please..." She begged one last time. "Please...!" She gulped one last breath and felt sticky warmth all over her. She didn't want to open her eyes, and this was a little too thick to treat like water. Slowly the taste of rust filled her mouth, and she began drowning.

And Kairi woke, shooting upright and gasping.

Roxas grabbed her hands, brushing her face while she gasped and cried, "Hey, hey it's all over..."

Kairi only shuddered and grabbed Roxas into a hug. She closed her eyes and let herself imagine it was Sora or Riku holding her, whispering into her ear the sweetest things to calm her down. "T-that..." Kairi hiccuped, "That was scary." Roxas merely nodded in agreement.

He backed up and brushed the tears on her cheeks, "Kairi, what happened?" She shook her head, whimpering about blood and mirrors and drowning. Fears of combat, her image, and futile struggles.

Roxas and Kairi raised their heads when the door opened. Aqua walked out vacant, teary, hand over her mouth. She avoided eye contact with anyone, only sitting down next to Ventus and gently running her hand through his hair.

Yen Sid turned to Kairi, "I see you're the next to awaken."

Kairi nodded, "You could've warned me..."

Yen Sid stroked his beard, "If I did it wouldn't work right. You'd be too prepared." He then explained, "The nightmare wouldn't be as effective. The goal is for you to experience true fear, without preparation."

"Is this really right?" Everyone turned to Aqua. She looked at the wall, "Should we really be breaking each other so badly?"

Yen Sid turned to the window, "If it gives you a chance to resist Xehanort's manipulative and oft unpredictable ways... perhaps." He looked at those still asleep: Ventus, Riku, Sora, and Lea, "Perhaps."


	5. Ven

Ventus was right back at square one. He never woke up. He was shoved right back into the corners of Sora's heart. Except this time he was dying. Rather than spending his days in peace it was in writhing agony as bit by bit he slipped away.

Sora never knew, to boot. He was ignorant forever of the dying fragments at the back of his heart. What really kicked the dog for Ven was seeing Sora kill Terra, thinking he was yet another incarnation of Xehanort. Aqua fell on her own. Perhaps a little too on her own.

Ven was alone. Alone and dying, his body up for grabs. In fact if he edged over to it, perhaps even occupied again by another dark and corrupting heart.

In his own little symbolic representation of his heart, he was bleeding out onto the stained glass and crying. This was painfully real. He wondered if his peaceful years with Sora were just a dream. All thought he was dead only for him to edge by unknown.

He awoke with no gasp or scream, only tears and a dead gaze trained on the ceiling.

"Ven? Ventus, are you okay?" Ventus glanced to see Aqua reaching for him, then closed his eyes and leaned his head into her hand as she stroked his cheek. Aqua quietly pulled him up into a hug.

Ventus whispered, "I love you... I love you..."

"I know." Aqua replied with a croak of her own, "I do too, Ven. You're my baby boy don't forget it."

Ventus nodded into her shoulder. After a moment, he said, "Thank you for waking me up."

Aqua nodded, hugging him tighter, "You weren't supposed to sleep that long."

"You woke me up anyways." Ventus laughed. He settled into her arms with a sigh, "Now we wait..."


	6. Riku

Riku figured he was used to horror. He'd seen a lot, done a lot, experienced a lot. He already thought his worst thoughts had come true. It surprised him how wrong he was.

He was a puppet of darkness once more. The cold and sickening threads of shadow itself were bound to his hand. At least last time he didn't know what he was doing. This time he was painfully aware of each and every blow to friend after friend.

"STOP!" He yelled. His body didn't comply, "STOP!" He was forced to watch hands, HIS hands, wreaking havoc upon the very souls he'd desired to save and protect. He desperately pulled back and screamed at himself to get a grip, but it seemed far too futile.

He cried, dragging himself to the ground and trying to ignore the screams. "Stop it. Stop it stop it stop it!" He beat his hands against his head, trying the hard way to grasp control.

He couldn't really remember the last time he cried. He hated it; wiping at tears left burns, his throat closed on itself until he could hardly breathe. It hurt. He was so tired of hurt. His life from the moment he left his beloved sands until now was nothing but hurt.

Riku looked up to see Kairi standing above him, eyes distant and going far past where he was. The look of a person who had seen hell and back. The look he hoped she would never, ever show. She had her Keyblade raised above him, perpendicular to his neck.

"You killed Sora." she said quietly.

Riku felt his grief return anew; he focused so much on regaining control he missed... His voice flew out of him, anguished and sobbing, "No... N-no I-I would never!"

"You killed him! Don't lie to me you monster!" Kairi yelled. She held out her hand, ice coalescing before his eyes, "See for yourself." Riku howled at his reflection in the ice. His eyes were golden. How on earth could they be golden? How? It'd been said by Xehanort himself that Riku had become incorruptible.

Riku woke up to the distinct noise of Kairi's Keyblade cutting his head off.

He shot straight up, eyes wide. He looked to the side to see Aqua and Ventus cradling each other in blissful sleep, and the other way showed Roxas kneeling next to Sora, still asleep. He looked pained, and he was crying and moaning about something.

Roxas looked at Riku, "Hey, welcome back."

Riku noticed his tears and wiped them up stubbornly, "Nice to be back."

"You shouldn't really bother." Roxas said, "Everyone's been crying."

Riku still stood and looked for something to blow his nose on. After a bit of searching he found a star studded hankie and blew his nose on it. He almost laughed at how honking the noise was, but honestly the grim atmosphere stifled it. He sat next to Roxas, "Where's Kairi?"

"Talking with Yen Sid." Roxas replied, "It took her awhile to calm down enough to talk about it, but she should be relatively fine when she comes back."

"Right." Riku watched Sora, feeling his stomach knot, "I hope he wakes up soon."

Roxas nodded in agreement, "He's been out awhile now..."


	7. Axel

Axel had seen graphic images before. Almost like Rome burning before his eyes while he ignored the screams and played music, completely and utterly uncaring for hundreds, maybe thousands, of lives suffering. Or maybe a little more literal than that.

Not that for a lot of his life he had a heart to care about it with. He lost it before he'd really seen anything that could be qualified as "horrifying" or "traumatizing".

The hitch to this was now he had one.

He was seeing every little world dying in front of his eyes, he could hear each and every scream; young, old, women, children. The surge of guilt and grief and anger and despair was crushing him from the inside. He didn't know how to handle the emotions and they ran rampant in a stampede right over him. All he did was wrap himself into a fetal position and covered his ears.

"I'm sorry!" He whined, "Please, I'm sorry! I know I wasn't good enough!" The sensation of tears was stunningly alien to him.

Axel snapped his head up when he heard a scream. He knew that scream, "AXEL! AXEL HELP ME!"

He scrambled to his feet, screaming in reply, "Roxas, ROXAS!" He summoned his chakrams out of pure instinct and threw them. He hoped and prayed they'd find the right target. He ran around a corner, and skidded to a halt. Both of them had hit targets alright. One was Roxas's assailant, Isa, head dismembered... Mostly. But the other chakram had embedded itself in Roxas's stomach.

Roxas looked at Lea; his eyes quivered with tears and he looked stunned, "A..." He made a horrible gasping and retching sound, "Axel..." Roxas buckled, falling forward with eyes blanker than when he was first born.

Axel shot up, surprising Roxas, "Woah!"

After a moment Axel grabbed Roxas without a word and held him close to his chest, "Roxas... Roxas..."

Roxas was confused, but let Axel hold his ears to his now rapidly beating heart, run his hands through his own golden spikes. Roxas closed his eyes and listened to Axel's heart. Axel found it comforting to feel Roxas pressed up against him, steadily breathing with him. It was also weird to feel a pulse in both of them.

Roxas then wrapped his arms around Axel in return and patted his back, "Scary, huh?"

Axel didn't say anything. Out of curiosity, he lifted his hand to where his tattoos used to be. He was surprised to find a single tear, long after he was sure his tear ducts had dried.


	8. Sora

Sora didn't think he'd ever experience something like this. Now, being optimistic he was glad he was experiencing it. On the half empty side of things he wished he never agreed to this.

He was surrounded. He was alone, seeing every friend and ally fall just before he could get to them. He was dying, plain and simple. It was hard to dismiss the hand squeezing and staunching a bleeding gorge in his side bigger than his shoes. His lungs couldn't get enough air, or maybe whatever oxygenated blood that was made bled straight out. In all his adventures he never really, truly, sat down and considered the thought of dying. Now that it was staring him in the face he was terrified.

Sora had been standing for as long as he could, but he fell to his knees anyways. He couldn't stand the laughter that ensued. The mocking ridicule towards a boy who was trying so hard. He choked out some kind of sob, but really it was more of a cough that let blood drip down his chin.

"Admit it," the chorus in front of him chanted, "you want to run. You want to run and cry to your friends and hide behind them, don't you?"

They began laughing again as Sora yelled at them, "I don't!" He knew it was a lie, though, as he curled up and tried to ignore the pain.

He did want to run. He didn't want to fight anymore. He wished Donald and Goofy were around so he could run to them and have them help him, to cover him. He wished that he was fast enough to save his friends, instead of watching them die one by one while he was powerless to stop it. He looked up absently, and froze in horror at the sight of a blade heading right for his face.

Sora woke up screaming louder than Aqua did and clawing at his eyes.

He sprang to his feet, running and stumbling around in disorientation and continuing to wail, "I can't see! I can't see!" Aqua and Ven woke at the noise, but couldn't quite process what was going on and only watched Sora experience the worst reaction of them by far. Axel grabbed Sora, intending to hold him until he was sane enough to realize what was going on, but Sora elbowed him and ran another way, continuing to shriek.

Roxas stood and held out his hands to intercept him, "Woah, woah! Hey now Sor- AGH!" He received a Keyblade to the face. Sora had gone on a delirious offensive.

"Roxas!" Axel elected to ignore Sora and he rushed to Roxas's side without any hesitation.

Sora backed himself into a wall, Keyblade bared, hand gripping his side, quaking like a cornered animal, "S-stay away from me! I may be blind but I can still fight!"

Riku took a moment to check Roxas, then calmly walked towards Sora when he understood Axel had it handled, "Sora, calm down." After a moment of observation he added, "You aren't blind. It's not real."

Sora pressed the tip of his Keyblade into Riku's neck, "Get away from me. You've already killed everyone else and I'm gonna die soon." When Riku made an attempt to hold Sora's shoulder he sent Riku clear across the room, "Just leave me alone you've already stolen everything from me!" Sora didn't seem to hear the clamor to help Riku that followed, sliding down the wall and sobbing, "You've taken everything... You shouldn't be hurting me still... It's not fair."

The door to Yen Sid's closet opened, Kairi walking out, "What happened?"

Ventus shrugged, "I-I don't know, exactly. Sora woke up and had some sort of reaction that's not... Not what we had."

Axel scoffed, "You've driven the kid psycho is what he means."

Aqua tried helping Riku up, but he grunted and stayed grounded, "Ow. Ow ow ow, don't think I can walk." He curled on himself, not saying any more. Kairi was concerned for Riku, but what demanded her attention was Sora, a curled up little ball of tears and fear.

She knelt next to him, "Sora?" She peeled his hands away from his face, "Sora, it's over now..."

Sora saw her, and grabbed her, "Oh... Oh Kairi... Oh, thank goodness it wasn't real..." He buried his face in her shoulder, almost wailing into it, "Thank god or Kingdom Hearts or whatever." Kairi rubbed his hair absently. She'd never seen Sora anywhere close to this distressed. She hummed a small tune, hoping to calm him down.

Sora relaxed- still distressed, but relaxed -and hesitantly asked, "I... Hurt people didn't I?"

"Hate to be blunt about it but yes you did." Roxas said while rubbing the healing wound on his cheek. Riku was judicious enough to stay quiet about his injury, and Aqua respected that wish. Ven was about to say it before Aqua's mild glare made him think more about it.

Sora backed away from Kairi and seemed to collapse like a balloon. Slowly, then all at once until he was a broken pile of regret and tears. Kairi wrapped herself around him, rubbing his back and crooning, "Shhh... It's all over now."

She stopped when she felt a set of strong arms wrap themselves around her and Sora. She looked up to see Riku embracing them both, taut with pain yet having such a soft expression of love. Kairi laughed a little and whispered in Sora's ear, "See? We have Riku, you have me, you're alive, we're all okay."

Sora sat up and his hands went up to ecompass and three of them. He continued weeping:

"It was so scary."

"We know."

"I'm so sorry I let you both die."

"It's alright."

"I let you all down."

"That's okay no one's perfect."

* * *

(damn why am I always focusing on causing Sora so much pain)


End file.
